by James Derrick

I’ve now been in Scotland for just over a month and what a wild start it has been! This has been my first time out of New Zealand and so my first international flights too with a short three-and-a-half-hour flight to Brisbane, a miserable 14-and-a-half-hour flight to Dubai and then 8 hours from there onto Glasgow, my final destination.

I definitely underestimated how gruelling a 14-hour flight would be. I tried my best to get some sleep but found it quite hard to get used to the constant noise of the plane engines and other people talking and moving about around me. When I finally arrived at Glasgow International I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to find my accommodation to get some proper sleep. What helped keep me awake on the way, however, was the near-freezing cold temperature as soon as I left the airport! It was a shock to the system coming from the sunny Bay of Plenty where it had been near 30 degrees only a few days prior.

The first week was pretty horrendous, being spent almost entirely between my bathroom and my bed after having caught some kind of virus on the flight over. This definitely made me infinitely happy to have gone with the accommodation option of having my own bathroom, however, it also meant I missed out on all the O week events and information sessions for exchange students. Luckily the exchange team is on to it and was able to get me all the information I needed before I started my classes the next week. An unexpected benefit of this too was when I did finally start getting out and about, I’d already adjusted to the time zone and didn’t have to do anything while I was jet-lagged.

Adjusting to the Strathclyde way of teaching after recovering from being sick hasn’t been too difficult. For the most part, it’s very similar to Waikato with there being one or two lectures and a tutorial for each paper every week. What is different, however, is every paper has a final closed-book exam worth 70%! Not at all what I’m used to at Waikato so I’ve had to somewhat adjust the way I’m studying so that I’m ready for such big exams that are also closed-book.

I’ve also since managed to do a lot of exploring and a bit of travel to other parts of the country too which has been absolutely amazing! The architecture and mix of old and modern buildings everywhere in Glasgow is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. The University of Strathclyde is over 200 years old and in some buildings, it feels like I’m walking through a castle when I’m on my way to classes.

The rest of Scotland is just as amazing too. I’ve been on a couple of big international student group tours so far. One that went up to, and around, Loch Ness and another that went to Glencoe and further up to Glenfinnan Viaduct where a few Harry Potter scenes were filmed. The countryside is beautiful and somewhat reminds me a lot of New Zealand. These trips have been amazing both for exploring the Scottish Highlands and for meeting lots of other international students from around the world, so I’d highly recommend doing something similar for anyone else who is in the same position.

Even though the first week was pretty miserable, I’m loving my experience so far and can’t wait to go on more trips, meet more people, and explore more of the country and culture!